


Correcting Mistakes

by Clare_Hope



Series: Correcting Mistakes [1]
Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005), Torchwood
Genre: "slight" lol, Alternate Universes, Aromantic Character, Children of Earth Fix-It, F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Major Character Undeath, Multi, Other, Slight bend of canon, but happy birthday torchwood!, no clue where this is going to go someday
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-23
Updated: 2016-10-22
Packaged: 2018-08-24 02:11:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8352235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Clare_Hope/pseuds/Clare_Hope
Summary: My birthday present for Torchwood: a great big CoE fix-it! In which Lady Me never ever used her extra medkit chip, and the Doctor decides that it's time to mend a few of his long-past errors, and an alternate universe is found and explored by many faces, expected, unexpected, old, and new.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Happy 10th birthday, Torchwood! And to the Torchwood fandom as well. Never stop growing and loving and creating.

_ I can’t spend eternity like this.  _

That was the only clear thought coursing through Jack’s mind as he replayed the events of five specific days over and over, spinning through the nothingness where he had ended up after teleporting without coordinates. He had told Gwen that he would land in a ship that was passing overhead but really he had just wanted to see if he could end his consciousness by dissolving into atoms. He had lasted six months on Earth after...but he couldn’t take it any more. 

Now he was on fire even though he couldn’t feel anything, and all he could see was Ianto and Steven dying  _ (all my fault)  _ even though he was blind, heard screaming and sobbing even though he had no ears, and he wanted it all to end because it was like when a person’s immune system attacked their own organs. Jack was attacking himself, trying to dismantle his body and mind and any last shred of sanity he had so he couldn’t feel this pain any more. 

And then he was screaming because he was so scared, scared that he would never escape this, and he wasn’t able to use his Vortex Manipulator because he no longer had a body and the device, too, was scattered into atoms, the dust that settles in cracks and crevices and that shimmers in the sunlight, and even life was better than this existence. But he could hear his own screams somehow, with real sound, so did that mean he had vocal cords again, and ears? How long had be been trapped like this? 

Jack concentrated, still screaming, a never-ending cry for help ripping out of his lungs and into whatever space he was occupying. He started to feel sensation that wasn’t memory or imagination, but his mind was jumbled and panicked and all of his sensory input was mixed and confused and he still wasn’t sure if any of it was real. He knew that people who had limbs amputated would sometimes feel sensation in the missing areas, so was that the same with an entire body missing? How long until it ended? 

After a little while, or maybe a long while, Jack became aware that there were hands holding him down, a voice whispering in his ear. Had he somehow materialized? Had his atoms pulled themselves back together despite everything? Oh, but the voice was so grounding, so familiar, so painful. Jack managed to stop screaming to hear it better. 

“Shhh, shhh. Oh, there we go. That’s better. Jack, open your eyes. Look at me.” A thin but warm hand rested on Jack’s forehead as he started to breathe, gasping to fill his lungs that hadn’t even been there a few minutes ago. He still kept his eyes shut tight as he rolled over, his body spasming as it tried to get used to existing again. He didn’t want to see the face that he knew was hovering over him worriedly. “Captain, I know you can hear me.” 

His breathing shuddery and shallow, Jack pressed his palms to the smooth, hard floor beneath him. His eyes were squeezed closed, and he ignored the tentative hand resting on his shoulder.  _ This is not happening _ . 

“It took me ages to find you, you were so scattered. But I wasn’t about to give up on you, Captain.” There was a slight pause. “Jack.” The voice was right, but the tone was different. Something was wrong. Something was hidden from him. 

He had to be sure. Jack opened his eyes. He stared straight down at a chrome colored floor. He could see his own hands, curling and uncurling involuntarily, the cuffs of his sleeves light blue and slightly tattered. The weight of his heavy grey military coat pressed down on his back, grounding him. With enormous effort, Jack rolled over and sat up to face the man kneeling beside him. “Doctor,” he said softly. 

“Hello, Jack.” It was the Time Lord. His hair was still sticking on end, his suit still tight and tidy, his eyes older than time. But was Jack stared around at his surrounding, he realized that while he was unmistakably inside the TARDIS, it looked nothing like he remembered it. He could tell that it was the timeship because of the shape of the center console, but it was green and silver and blue with hard edges and bookshelves instead of the natural, flowing coral structures. As he rested his gaze back on the face of the Doctor, the Time Lord’s image flickered strangely. 

“What...what was that?” Jack asked hoarsely. His voice was quiet and raspy from disuse, but people didn’t just flicker. 

“Oh, did you notice? This isn’t actually me.” Jack stared, and the Doctor quickly corrected himself. “Well, I am me, but not me like you knew me, so I made this hologram so you would recognize me when you woke up. I thought that was the right thing to do--I didn’t want you to be frightened, but someone’s missing and I didn’t have anyone to tell me if it was right, so…” The blue suit and young face wavered again, and Jack almost caught a glimpse of someone behind the image. “But, since this is partially a perception filter, drawing on your memory of this face--I don’t remember it well, it was a very, very long time ago--now that you know there’s something behind this face and this voice, you won’t be able to sustain the--there it goes.” The image of the Doctor that Jack knew disappeared completely, leaving in its place an older man wearing a dark red velvet coat. He had piercingly, icy-blue eyes that were even older than Jack remembered them as being, and behind them lay something else--something confused and forgotten. 

“Doctor?” 

“I am the Doctor.” His voice was no longer high-pitched and cheerful with a sweet Estuary English accent, but lower and rougher and Scottish-sounding. “Do you believe me?” 

“I don’t care,” Jack said honestly. “I don’t care whether you’re actually the Doctor. It doesn’t make any difference to me. I’ve stopped caring about much of anything.” 

The Doctor nodded. “Yes, I...I know the feeling. I think.” He passed a worn hand over his cheek guiltily. “I’ve changed a lot. I...I think I have some things I need to tell you, but...something’s missing. I don’t remember exactly what it is. I think I used to have someone who helped me with this kind of things, but I don’t remember her, or where she went.” He seemed lost in thought for a moment. “I think I can remember her name sometimes--I know I did once, but then I lost it again. I lost a lot of things.” 

Jack felt a stab of...what was that? It couldn’t be pity. Or maybe it was. Maybe Jack did feel sorry for this man who seemed to lost, but there was some part of him that thought this was what he deserved for abandoning Jack so long ago to a fate worse than death, worse than anything. He tried to think of who the Doctor might be trying to remember. “Rose?” he suggested. 

A look of pain passed across the Doctor’s weary countenance. “No, I remember Rose. I remember Rose all too well. And I remember Martha and Donna and Amy and Rory and River and you, and all the ones that came before you, Barbara and Ian and my dearest Susan and Adric and Sarah and Jamie and Ace and Polly and Ben and Grace…” He trailed off. “But I can’t remember this one. Something went wrong, I think.” 

“Well, I’m sorry, but what do I have to do with it?” Jack asked bluntly. Clearly, this was actually the Doctor, which meant that Jack was angry. 

The Doctor drew his (rather large) eyebrows close together as he thought. “Something...to do with...Me.”

“Me?” 

“Yes, yes, Me. That was her name. Not the one I forgot, the other one. The immortal one.” 

“Doctor, you aren’t making any sense.” 

“Yes! Doctor. She told me to be a doctor before she left. Didn’t she? Not Me, the one I forgot. Oh, I get them so mixed up, Captain. Where’s my chalkboard?” The Doctor stood up, looking around wildly. Jack tried to stand up after him, but had to clutch at one of the bookcases near him because his legs weren’t working properly, and looked around to see if he could spot the elusive object. 

“Is it that?” Jack asked, pointing. Then he had to grab back at the bookcase to stop himself from falling over again. 

The Doctor looked towards it, relieved. Then his face fell. “Oh, that’s right, I forgot. I can’t write on it anymore, I can’t forget. That’s a very important message, Captain, can’t forget that.” 

Jack read the script on the chalkboard, written in a neat hand.  _ Run, you clever boy, and be a doctor _ , it said. 

“No, no, I can’t forget that. Remember, it tells me, remember. I don’t remember writing it, you know. I don’t think I did, I think it was  _ her _ . It’s impossible, but I think she was, too. The impossible girl--I need to write that down, I need to...to remember that, I could use it to find her,” he rambled. Jack pulled his strength together long enough to step forward, grasp the Doctor by his shoulders and push him towards the ratty-looking pilot’s chair, when he sat down heavily, staring into space. Jack nearly fell again but barely managed to stay upright. 

“Doctor, what’s wrong with you?” Jack demanded. As much as he told himself he didn’t care anymore, that the Doctor had hurt him too much for him to care, he hated seeing him like this. Whatever  _ this _ was.

“I’m supposed to take you to see Me.” 

“Doctor, I’m already seeing you.” 

“No, you idiot! Not me, me. ME.” The Doctor looked at him scathingly. 

“You still aren’t making sense,” Jack said flatly. 

“I made a mistake with you, Jack,” the Doctor told him quietly, not looking at him. “Immortality isn’t something that can be born alone.” 

Something twisted inside Jack’s chest. “What do you mean?” 

“You were made immortal by mistake--it was Rose, she couldn’t stop herself, it wasn’t her fault. But I left you to bear it alone. And then you were miserable--oh, I was watching, and I saw you lose person after person that you loved and I saw myself in you and so I ran. I always do that, I always run. Why do I always run?” He paused. Jack felt physical pain with each and every one of the Doctor’s words, left reeling, and he slid down the wall to sit on the floor and listen. The Doctor still wouldn’t look at him. “But I got angry at something. The universe wasn’t going the way I wanted it to and I tried to change it. I just wanted to save someone but I went too far. I made her immortal, but I gave her the option to have someone else stay with her.” 

Such anger as Jack had never felt before suddenly surged up inside of him, and he struggled to keep himself sitting down because he knew that if he stood up, he would do something he would regret.  _ How could you force this upon someone else?  _ was the first thought in his mind, closely followed by,  _ And how could you not give me that same choice? _

From the look on the Doctor’s face, he knew exactly what Jack was thinking without even having to turn towards him. “I know,” he said softly. “And I almost ended up destroying the entire universe. It was for her, for Me, and for the one I forgot. But that’s why I came to find you. I need to fix my mistakes. I saw something a while back, I remembered all of the things I had ever done or ever knew that I was ashamed of admitting. And I need to fix them.” 

“But you can’t fix me,” Jack murmured. He knew that. The Doctor had told him that once. 

To Jack’s surprise, the Doctor cracked a wide grin, finally turning his head to look at him. The smile suited this older face surprisingly well. It had a slightly manic quality to it, and it made Jack feel slightly uneasy, but it was genuine. “No. I can’t. But I think I know someone who can.” 

“And who would that be?” 

“I believe you know a Ianto Jones?”

_ That isn’t funny. _ Jack couldn’t speak. He just stared. 

“That is the name of the one who died, yes? When that three-headed alien wanted to use Earth as a drug supply?” Still, Jack just stared as the smile slipped away from the Doctor’s face. “That--that was your friend’s name, right?” 

“He wasn’t just a  _ friend _ ,” Jack spat finally. 

“No! No, of course not. I’m sorry.” The Doctor was standing up, putting a hand out in a gesture of contrition. “But that was his name?” 

“Yes. But he can’t fix me, Doctor. He’s dead.” And then there were tears in Jack’s eyes again though he had sworn that he would never let himself care enough to cry ever again. 

“But what if I could make him un-dead?” the Doctor cried excitedly, flinging a couple of switches on the console, his gaunt fingers dancing over a complex systems of buttons and levers. 

“What are you talking about?” Jack demanded. 

“Me--the immortal girl--she never used the second chip. Or at least, I didn’t think that she did. But I never saw it at the end, so what if she did use it? But not for herself, for you?” 

“Doctor, what do you mean?” growled Jack. The column in the center of the console began moving up and down as sound of the TARDIS engines began whirring like breath into a microphone, and Jack had to hold on to the wall despite the fact that he was sitting down or he would have been thrown completely to the ground. 

“I can’t save you!” the Doctor cried. “But someone else can.”

There was a jarring thud as the TARDIS landed. “Doctor.  _ Where. Are. We? _ ” Jack asked, falsely calm. He stood up. 

“I don’t know,” the Time Lord answered, delighted. “I haven’t the faintest idea. But Jack, you need to leave now, and something tells me that I can’t follow you outside of those doors.” 

“Doctor--” 

“I can’t tell you any more than that, Captain. Just go.” 

“--are you really saying that this...this person, Me, or whatever she calls herself, can…” He couldn’t bring himself to say the words. 

“Can bring your Ianto back to you, yes. Forever.” 

It felt like a dream. Like a dream and a nightmare both in one. “And if I step out of those doors--” He stepped towards them. 

“It’ll work itself out, I think. I’m not sure. I can’t remember why I knew to take you here, I just did.” 

“Let me finish. If I step out of those doors, you’ll be alone again.” 

The Doctor waved his hand airily. “Oh, don’t mind me, Captain. I’ve got the TARDIS, and the chalkboard, and my eyebrows--they’re practically their own independent nation--and there’s something around here that listens to me while I talk even if there’s no one around to hear me. So don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine. It’s you I’m worried about, can’t let you be alone, can I?” 

“Find someone, Doctor,” Jack insisted. “I’ll leave, I’ll manage, I always do. But when you’re alone, bad things happen. You’re already starting to slip.” The Doctor took a few steps towards him, tilting his head as if completely bewildered. 

“Slipping? I’m not slipping, I’m standing quite firmly on solid ground.” 

Jack couldn’t help himself. He reached out as soon as the Doctor was close enough and pulled the Time Lord into a tight hug. He could feel the Doctor resisting for a second before relaxing. 

“I don’t like the hugging anymore,” he tried to protest. “I...I said to her once, I said that hugging was just a way to hide your face. You can’t trust hugging.” 

Jack wouldn’t let go of him. “Yeah, but we both know that the other isn’t alright anyway, so there’s no need to either hide or look at each other’s faces,” he pointed out. “You just gave me hope, and I hate you for it.” 

“So--so, why...are you hugging me?” the Doctor said slowly. 

“Because I love you for it, too.” Jack squeezed him even closer. The old Time Lord felt rather small and frail, nothing like the skinny-but-strong Doctor that Jack had known, or the broad- shouldered and leather-clad Doctor before him. A couple seconds later, Jack even felt him return the embrace slightly. “I hope you find her, again, too,” Jack said finally, releasing him. 

“Oh, I don’t think I will. But I’m sure I’ll find someone else--after all, there’s a whole universe out there, isn’t there?” the Doctor told him, seeming partially relieved and partially disappointed that the hug had ended. 

“I’m sure you will.” Jack glanced towards the TARDIS doors. “This person, this immortal. How will I know her when I find her?” 

The Doctor frowned slightly, thinking. “It’s likely that you’ve met before. Anyway, you’ll know her when you see her, or she will know you. She may well be the only person out there. I just don’t know.” Then, as if he realized something, he held his hand out. “Wrist strap,” he ordered. 

“Doctor! I just got this working again,” Jack protested, putting his hand over the Vortex Manipulator protectively. 

“And then you tried to kill yourself with it. You won’t be needing it again, trust me.” The Doctor kept his hand outstretched insistently, palm up. 

Incredibly reluctantly, Jack unfastened the time machine from around his wrist and handed it to the Doctor. 

“Thank you,” he said. “Now, go, Captain.”

Jack put his hand on the door. He hesitated, looking back at the Doctor. “What if--” he began. 

The Doctor interrupted him. “Captain, that isn’t the question you need to be asking. The question isn’t ‘what if?’, the question is ‘what if not?’” He snapped his fingers and the TARDIS door opened just a crack, creaking as it did so--so familiar a sound was that, it made Jack’s heart ache for days gone. A ghost of a young woman’s laughter echoed over the inaudible ramblings of a Northern sounding man, while Jack himself laughed and joked along with them. But that was lost ages ago. “If you do not leave, if you do not trust me enough to walk out of these doors...what will you do? This is the only hope you have left, and you being a man who recently was so hopeless that you disintegrated yourself into atoms, you really ought to take it. Just go, Jack.” 

He was right--Jack couldn’t do anything but leave now, take this chance, despite barely knowing what was happening. If the Doctor was telling the truth, he could see Ianto again. That was worth...anything. Jack made up his mind and tipped the Doctor the two finger salute that the other man had given him so many times. The Doctor returned the gesture. 

“See you in hell,” they both said at once. Jack smiled and slipped out of the door. 

He stepped into what appeared to be an old American diner, complete with patriotic paintings on the walls and red and white booths. The TARDIS dematerialized behind him, taking with it the Doctor and Jack’s last chance of turning back. “Huh,” Jack said, gazing around. “That wasn’t quite what I expected.” 

The diner was completely deserted, or so it seemed. A door at the end opened and two young women, laughing hysterically, burst in, falling over each other. 

“And then--”

“But that was--” 

“The most fun  _ ever! _ ” 

Then they caught sight of Jack, who was staring at them. 

“Erm. What?” the darker haired girl uttered. 

“Oh, didn’t I tell you?” the other one said. “We were expecting company.” 

The darker haired one stared at Jack and then back at her companion. “No, you didn’t tell me anything.” She turned to Jack. “Okay, who the hell are you?” 

“I…” Jack found himself at a loss. 

“Nevermind, don’t answer that.” She turned back to her companion once again. “Me, why didn’t you tell me anything? And who the hell is this?” 

“Oh, are you Me?” Jack blurted. Was this who the Doctor had been talking about? 

“I am.” She inclined her head slightly. “And you are Captain Jack Harkness. The Doctor’s told me all about you. This is Clara Oswald. What did the Doctor tell you?” 

“Hang on, the Doctor sent him? Are you in contact with him?” Clara demanded. “What else haven’t you been telling me?” 

“Clara, hush.” Immediately, Clara fell silent. Jack was under the impression that there were not many people who could make her be quiet that quickly, but this Me woman was one of them. “Jack, the Doctor told me to give you something.” She reached into her pocket, pulling out a small white chip. She walked up to Jack, looking intently into his eyes. “The Doctor tells me you’re immortal.” 

Jack nodded slowly. “He tells me you are, too.” 

“How old are you?” 

“Over two thousand years old.” 

“Looking good,” Clara muttered. 

Me ignored her, a small, condescending smile appearing on her lips. “I have lived nearly the lifespan of the universe, Captain. Not once have I found someone worth giving this to. Are you sure that you’ve found yours?” 

Unbidden, memories of Ianto Jones began flashing through Jack’s mind, bringing hot, stinging tears to his eyes.  _ Had I found mine?  _ He remembered catching the pteranodon with Ianto, remembered the taste of the coffee that Ianto had made him so many times, how beautiful he looked in a suit. But more important things, too--the sound of Ianto’s laugh and the tiny eyerolls, the gentle touch of his hand that somehow made Jack’s pain disappear, the low tone of his voice and the sweet concern when he had once asked if Jack got lonely so far away from home, how desperately he had begged Jack to remember him and how terrified Jack was that he wasn’t going to be able to. The way Ianto’s lips had formed the words “I love you” and how Jack’s couldn’t. Those words still needed to be said. 

“Yeah. I’ve found mine.” 

Me studied his face, her eyes reflecting the age of the universe just as she had said. “Are you absolutely sure?” 

“Yes.” 

“But would they thank you for it?” 

Jack furrowed his brow. “What?” 

“This person you want to bring back. Would they thank you for immortality?” she clarified. “When they realize that they can never die, will they think it a blessing or a curse?” 

The captain was sure of his answer. “Both.” 

Me smiled. “That was the correct answer. Here.” She took his hand and placed the white chip into it gently. “Use it well, as I never could.” 

“I’m sorry, when is anyone going to explain to me what is happening?” asked Clara finally. 

Me faced Clara and held out her hand. Clara took it reluctantly, but still appeared angry. “Clara, the Doctor made someone else immortal before me, but that time it wasn’t his choice and it wasn’t his fault and he could do nothing to reverse it. So he ran away and tried not to look back, leaving Jack to handle everything alone. But unlike me, Jack falls in love. And the Doctor never gave him something like he gave me, to keep someone else with him on the long journey.” 

Clara was nodding slowly. “So you’re giving it to him.” 

“Well, I can’t very well let you have it. You still have to face the raven.” Me touched Clara’s face gently. “If I saved you, I’d be risking the entire universe, which was what the Doctor was preventing when he forgot you, and I would never make his sacrifice to be in vain. I’m sorry, Clara, but Jack needs it more than I do.” 

“I understand.” Clara smiled sadly. There was a lull in which Clara and Me gazed at each other and Jack was left uncomfortably standing off a few feet away, pretending to study the chip in his hand intently. Then, Clara cleared her throat. “Ahem. So. Where exactly are we going to get this...whoever it is that Jack’s using the medical kit on?” 

“Cardiff, Wales, Earth. 8th of July 2009.” Me looked at Jack, checking. “It is him, right? That is the one you’re saving.” 

“Ianto Jones.” Just saying the name hurt, but Jack forced himself to remember that it was possible that Ianto could still be alive. Thinking about it made Jack want to cry--thinking about touching Ianto’s warm, alive hands, feeling his tight embrace, their lips pressed together once again...it was more than he could bear. “How does this work, then?”

Me gestured around at the diner. “This is a TARDIS.” 

“Right?” Jack said skeptically. 

“It is, though,” Clara reiterated. “It’s stuck looking like an American diner, but right through those doors is the console room. It’s a bit...drab, but we’re working on making it a bit more colorful.” 

“We can take you to the last moment that Ianto Jones’ body is left alone and seen by anyone before his burial. That way, you won’t be interrupting or disturbing any timelines. The chip should work quickly once placed onto his forehead, but you’ll have time to bring him back here before he wakes up. He’ll be very disoriented,” explained Me. “According to myself, in my writings I’ve done to ensure that I don’t forget who I am, it takes a while to process what has happened. But at least he’ll have you and me to explain everything.” 

“Tell him what we’ve been working on,” suggested Clara. 

“Quite.” Me nodded. “Clara and I have been learning how this machine works. It’s not really a machine, though, it’s quite alive.” 

“Yeah, I know. A TARDIS was what made me immortal to begin with,” Jack informed her. 

“Yes, and it--” 

“She,” Jack said. “The Doctor always said that TARDISs were all female.” 

“She,” corrected Me. “She is very complicated. Luckily, I’m a genius. I’ve had enough time to learn how to operate just about any space or time ship I’ve come across, and I’ve even met a couple of people who knew how to fly a TARDIS and taught me a bit. And the Doctor taught Clara some as well, but what we can’t figure out how to do is to fly into an alternate universe.” 

“Why would you want to do that?” 

“Because technically, in the universe that we’re living in now, you and I and soon Ianto aren’t allowed time travel. We risk crossing over our own timelines in such a way that it could rip holes in the fabric of reality. Especially you, Jack. You’re a fixed point in time--even I am in flux enough that I can travel with Clara for a little while and not cause any problems.” 

“But,” Clara interjected, “if we could figure out how to fly into a universe where the laws of time aren’t quite the same, then we could explore it instead! An entire new universe, where not even the Doctor has been.” She sighed, suddenly looking sad. “And I won’t be there to see it.” 

Jack couldn’t help asking, “Why not?” 

“Because I’m dead,” Clara told him sadly. “I’m trapped between one heartbeat and my last.” She held out her hand, gesturing for Jack to take her wrist. “See? No pulse.” Clara’s skin was smooth but icy cold, and there wasn’t even the faintest beat of her heart. 

“How…?” 

“The Doctor saved me.” Clara drew her hand back. “But he almost destroyed time itself doing so, and so he made himself forget me in fear of what he might do or become to get me back. And so eventually I’ll have to return to the moment that I die.” 

_ The one I forgot _ . The Doctor’s voice echoed in Jack’s mind. “He’s gone mad from that,” he said quietly. 

“He’s got someone,” Me promised. “Someone’s going to come along and help him soon. But now we’ve got to get the one who’s going to help you.” Again, Jack felt as if she was piercing him with her gaze as she studied him intently like some interesting experiment, looking deep into his eyes and right into his very being. “You’re far worse than I was at your age,” she murmured. “You need someone so much more than I did.” 

“Well, what are we waiting for, then?” Clara asked. She went over to the area behind the counter, where a nondescript door sat. Me and Jack followed her as she opened the door. A flood of white light hit Jack’s eyes, making him blink before being able to see the room he had just stepped into. 

It was a TARDIS console room, but unlike anything he had seen before. It was mostly plain white, with round, chrome circle-like structures adorning the walls. The console itself, too, was far simpler than either designs of the Doctor’s TARDIS that Jack had seen. There were far fewer buttons and levers, and the column in the center did not go all the way up to an elaborate ceiling either, but stopped only a couple of meters up. As he looked closer at the console, he realized that each of the switches and buttons were carefully labeled with some sort of description as to what they did. Some made sense, others did not.  _ Final takeoff,  _ one said.  _ Silence _ , said another. Then there was,  _ Makes lights flicker, Car Horn???, Heating Unit, Radiation Dial, Chameleon Circuit (Broken?),  _ and  _ Brakes _ . 

Me and Clara had been pressing buttons and flipping switches while Jack was staring. The floor jolted, and the lovely grating sound of a TARDIS taking off began. The flight was rough, almost rougher than in the Doctor’s TARDIS, but it was short. They landed with a thud.

“Jack, you have ten minutes,” Me said urgently. “Right outside those doors is Ianto Jones’ coffin. He’s inside. Nobody else is in the room, but the funeral begins very soon. Gwen is going to come into the room in nine minutes and forty seconds. Nobody ever opens the casket again, but you need to get him and come back  _ fast _ . Go.”

Jack looked down at the white rectangle in his palm, then up at the doors. He didn’t let himself hesitate, and he ran out the door.

Immediately, he was hit with a painful wash of memories. Rhiannon had insisted upon how the funeral was to take place, so he was now standing in a tiny little morgue on the outskirts of Cardiff, in a sideroom, empty but for a casket in the center, on a simple but elegant stand. He stepped towards it as if he was in a dream.

Jack lifted the lid of the casket with surprising ease. His hands shook as he forced himself to look down at the body inside. Ianto Jones’ face was pale and still, the lips artificially pink, but Jack knew if he were to touch them they would be cold and lifeless.

Was he really going to do this? Force Ianto to come back into this world that had been so cruel to him the first time? Was he really so selfish?

_ Yes _ , he decided.  _ I am that selfish. _ And without another moment of pause, he pressed the white rectangle to Ianto’s forehead.

For a second, nothing happened. Then, Ianto’s skin seemed almost to fold around the device, pulling it down into his skull. He didn’t move, didn’t take a breath, but Jack knew it had worked.

There was a noise from outside the room’s door. Some people were talking. Jack recognized the voices as Gwen’s and his own.

“Jack, please, come inside. I can’t do this alone.”

“You have to,” Jack found himself mouthing along with his past self. Knowing he didn’t have much time left, he lifted Ianto’s body from the casket and closed the lid. He knew what happened next. He and Gwen would walk into the room, followed by Rhiannon, who would lock the casket without even glancing at her brother one last time. So, cradling Ianto’s body in his arms, he stepped back into the TARDIS, indeed disguised as the entrance to a diner.

As soon as the door closed behind him, Me pulled a lever. She must have been ready for him to come back, because the TARDIS took off instantly.

“Did you do it?” Me asked. Jack nodded. “It’ll be hours before it’s healed him. He’s been dead for longer than I was, so it will be more difficult. The TARDIS has prepared a room for you two, just down that corridor.” She pointed.

Jack took that as an invitation to leave, so he stepped down the indicated hallway until he came to the first open door. Inside the room was a simple bed, a soft carpet, and an armchair. Just like the console room, everything there was a monochrome white. It made it all feel slightly unreal as Jack set Ianto’s body down on the bed and sat himself down in the chair, ready to wait for as long as it took.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I'm Clare Hope, and I have no idea how long this story is going to be. I'm hoping to continue it indefinitely. A lot is going to happen, and eventually I'm hoping to take requests for future chapters, but that won't happen until everything is properly established. Enjoy! Find me on tumblr [here](http://clarehope128.tumblr.com/) and [here](http://demisexual-ianto-jones.tumblr.com/)!


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